"I do not doubt my Emperor's wisdom in creating a necessary evil such as these fearful warriors, nor do I doubt their effectiveness in battle. It remains my fervent hope however, that though I spend my life making war for the liberation of Mankind that I never again see such inhuman butchery as I have witnessed in the halls of Cerberus."Bashar-Colonel Alves Scorn, Terran XXII Dracos Regiment

Experimenting With War Hounds LEgion Specialists - Destroyers

For some extremely odd reason I have been thinking about some of the Specialist units for the War Hounds Legion. Not really sure why - I mean I have enough infantry still to paint, but this entered my mind. Maybe it's because I want the Specialist units to have slightly different markings and I want to explore that. Already the Scimitar pilot has the markings, so why not expand it a bit - thus this Destroyer guy. Now firstly, I'm not convinced the War Hounds would have used Destroyers, in fact they seem like the type of Legion that would shun them, but you never know.

​I knew right away that I didn't want the ruined armour, but I did want to have some effect on their armour from the specialist weapons - no paint chips, but something. Considering the War Hounds were a very chivalrous if violent Legion, their armour would be clean at least! Here I opted for some Brown washes in the recesses and around bolts to show there had been some wear. The helmet is an Iron Warriors one and I really like the design but it may not fit the Legion. Here you could argue that he looks like a Chaplain, but the thought was the unit would be themed around the idea of death - skulls etc!Now the Specialist markings I mean are the shoulder pads - notice the blue bars on the side of the markings. This is on both shoulders and will differentiate them from normal units. Possibly the best Bronze shoulder trims I've ever done BTW! Happy with those. There's a bit of neatening up to do on some of the paint, but overall he's done.So the Specialist units start to take shape. I doubt I will do anther Destroyer - it was more a fun test.

October 2018

War Hounds Legion Update

Just a quick little update with a few things in War Hounds Land! I'm not entirely sure if this first guy is going to be part of the Command Squad or maybe a Captain to go with the Breacher/ Assault units, but this bitz combination came to me early one morning. The torso you may recognise as being Space Wolf, but a few different colours and look - they're hounds - and the spikes on top of the helmet are from Skaven and work a treat!!There's actually been a fair bit of conversion work on this guy but the bitz meld so well it['s hard to tell. His face needs a bit more work, but overall he's pretty close.The final shot is of the new Combi-Volkites I have been building for the Veteran Tactical Squad. A mix of GW and FW bitz, they look great in my mind. I have done three of the guys so far and have another three on the hobby desk to finish. This also gives me the chance to check the paint jobs on the Vets and fix that and their proper load out so they are in line with the rules, which have changed since I started building this unit.

July 2018

THE XIITH LEGION WAR HOUNDS BACKGROUND FROM "BETRAYER"

As part of the ongoing War Hounds Legion Project, we have at times turned to any of the Black Library books to try and get more information on the XIIth Legion War Hounds.​The War Hounds Legion were the progenitors to the World Eaters before Angron was found and took his place as the Primarch. He renamed and reshaped the Legion, so a true image of how the War Hounds were has been lost to time - however there are some tantalizing clues through the novels. Yes there can be some contradiction, but if we take it on face value then we can at least work out how they were their own distinct Legion rather than simply World Eaters in blue armour with The Nails in their heads. ​So the other night, I sat down and combed through Betrayer by Aaron Dembski-Bowden page by page to get an idea of his take on them from the characters themselves. Betrayer has quite a few references, especially from the former Legion Master Lhorke who is now a Contemptor Dreadnought.We last did this at the end of 2016, but having to time to sit down and do this as an annotated list will make it easier for other people to then follow up that research and make up their own mind or use it to quote to other people who mistakenly think that the War Hounds and World Eaters are the same.

Kharn observes that Dreadclaws were a gift from Horus to the World Eaters (pg 41 & 42) so the War Hounds may not have used the Dreadclaws for orbital assault

The use of Land Raiders and Malcadors (pg 126) is mentioned. These may have therefore been in the War Hounds armoury too.

When the Butcher's Nails were implanted in the XIIth Legion Librarians they malfunctioned. They were given a choice, execution or removal. of The Butcher's Nails - either way was death (pg 128). By the time of Betrayer, there are only a few Librarians left in the World Eaters Legion, but it seems they were used quiet extensively by the War Hounds.

The War Hounds used Contemptor, Lucifer and Deredeo pattern dreadnoughts (pg 152)

The War Hounds used scratch kill markings (pg 152). These decorate Lhorke's Dreadnought which is still in War Hounds livery. These scratch markings are on the World Eaters decal sheet from Forge World.

Lhorke's Contemptor dreadnought bore the War Hounds hounds head emblem on the breastplate rather than the full War Hound as seen on the shoulder pauldrons. This may have then also been common on other War Hounds dreadnougths.(pg 152)

War Hounds were not "lobotomised, not madmen" says Lhorke, but they chose to emulate their Primarch so chose the Butcher's Nails (pg 152)

There were 100,000 War Hounds at the time Angron was reunited with his Legion according to Lhorke (pg 153)

War Hounds would duel in gladiatorial matches, chaining warriors from different worlds together to form kinship (pg166)

The War Hounds were jealous of Space Marine Legions with Primarchs and wished theirs would be a great general (pg 166), so morale was very low before Angron was found (pg 251)

War Hounds were told of their Primarch's refusal of the Emperor's grace but they respected Angron's commitment to brotherhood and being angry at the Emperor (pg 167)

Legion Master Gheer - the last Chapter Master of the War Hounds) was a blunt if uninspiring commander, and a great axeman (pg 167)

Lhorke - in his human form - wore claws in battle and was the Legion Master before Gheer

War Hounds, once known for their brotherhood, became known for their savagery once the Nails were implanted (pg 167 & 168). Brotherhood deteriorated under Abgron (pg 265)

War Hounds proudly maintained their own armour and weapons where World Eaters rely on their serfs to do it (pg 175)

Far from a massed horde of berzerkers that the World Eaters are, the War Hounds were careful planners and concerned with logistics (pg 177)

The XIIth Legion have a superstition about abandoning their weapons. Unknown if this also held true with the War Hounds. (pg 255)

Fellblades are mentioned amongst the armoury of the XIIth Legion (pg 264)

War Hounds - though formed on Terra - were culturally diverse, "coloured by many shades of skin colour from so many different worlds" (pg 267)

New War Hounds Breachers/ Heavy Infantry & A Change of Direction

Okay, so I know we say there's a change of direction a lot - and we have had some significant breakthroughs on how we think the War Hounds should look - but this one is just for the Breachers, so panic not! We have had some really great feedback on how the Community has been following along with our War Hounds, so thank you for the kind words and we're really happy that you are getting a lot out of our research and then our experimentation as we progress along with this project.Alrighty, so in the fluff for the Breachers we decided to go along with the current idea that the War Hounds were a highly disciplined full frontal assault force, which would then necessitate the Breachers potentially being an important core of this strategy. As such we have given the Breachers a bronze stripe down the middle of their helmets (left) and we think it works a treat! Just makes them stand out and with bronze being associated with Veterans and rank in the XIIth Legion there is existing canon to back it up!

Now, on to the new minis. We've continued that feel through the unit now as added some character - this first guy having some trappings on his right arm and also more brutal head gear. Notice his studded shoulder pad fromMaster Crafted Miniatures. Such an excellent piece for anyone doing World Eaters, War Hounds or Sons of Horus.The second mini continues the use of theForge World Death Guard torsoswhich add bulk to this heavy infantry unit. We also used another Mechanicum head adding to the heavy mechanical feel of the unit. Notice the Umbra Pattern Bolter too as a shout out to the Rogue Trader era Space Marines and as an extra sign of status. You can see also (below left) how the Death Guard torsos now fit into this unit. Very happy.Also included here is a bit of a look at the different shield used in this unit. The fluff of this unit is that the Praetor drew them from different War Hounds units from across the Legion, so they have kept the markings from their old unit on their shields. Just makes it a bit interesting!Finally we added the banner and skull to make a bannerman. Each War Hounds unit has a bannerman exclusive of the Vexilia and it's really just to add fluff and interest to the look of the unit. There was a time we had considered using banners on ever member of the Breachers to designate their status, but the bronze strip does that enough we think.

January 2018

Latest Addition To The War Hounds Breachers/ Heavy Infantry

Having had recent inspiration to continue with the XIIth Legion War Hounds, I've decided to finish the Breachers/ Heavy Infantrysquad. Frankly I find them pretty hard to pose behind that big shield, so trying to find interesting poses has been a challenge - his guy, however, came up a treat! As with a few of the others, I used the Death Guard torsos to make them look bulkier and the addition of the Mechanicus head seems to work nicely too. The War Hounds icon on the shield is from Pop Goes The Monkey.on Shapeways. ​Notice the Umbra Patter Bolter as well - a little salute back to Rogue Trader era Space Marines

December 2017

War Hounds Legion Praetor Completed - Picture Dump!

The War Hounds Legion Praetor is complete! Check out the picture dump below - but if you want to see more, I did a full write up on the bitz and thought process plus many more detailed pictures in this article.

September 2017

War Hounds Legion Praetor Inbound

​As we've mentioned before, coming up with the look for the War Hounds was a long process, and that was just the troops and vehicles, but when it comes to officers - that's a whole other story!There's already a start to the Command Squad with one guy with a big Celtic/ Norse inspired war horn, and a non-command officer in the Praevian with his robot, but building the big cheese for the War Hounds Legion was going to be interesting!People make some amazing officers with such cool conversions mixing bits from all over the universe, so this challenge was much anticipated and a nice change after really being unable to do much hobby due to illness.-So the first thing we did this guy was use one of the Imperial Fists torsos - it just screams pre-Heresy with the Raptor Imperialis on the front loud and proud! The second thing we added some Artificer-style armour by using the lower legs of a Stormcast Eternal, upper legs of the plastic MKIII and then cutting the backs off and adding plastic MKIII calves . This was pretty fiddly, and adding micro-beads as rivets added a level of detail I was looking for at the time for the back of the model which looked pretty bare.The Power Claws are from the Raven Guard Dark Fury Assault Squad kit which were cut and repositioned to make him look like he was almost challenging the enemy to charge him. We also added a little piece from the Space Wolves to his belt which is meant to represent the pelt of one of the war hounds from the Yeshk warriors of the north of Terra - where the War Hounds Legion get their name. We've resisted this in the past, but for someone of this rank a trophy like this could make sense. Some extra belt decoration was also added... all unfortunately going to waste after adding a cloak to the backpack! Dammit!!So the backpack is actually a fiddly conversion - it's the backpack from the Limited Edition Space Marine Captain, but with the funnels cut off. These funnels were replaced with the funnels, pipes and fan from a plastic MKIII backpack. It fits surprisingly well and is pretty effective for a really distinct backpack. The cape is from the Custodes, painfully cut and bent into shape and then padded out with Green Stuff to get the shape right. I'm not 100% sold on this as I was runnign with a different idea, but it does give the model some bulk and the look of rank.We're looking at two options for the head right now, so we'll see which one looks best - both are suitably grizzled and veteran looking!.-So far so good - let's see how the paint goes...!

September 2017

War Hounds Legion Veteran Tactical Squad is Complete!

I'm a pretty slow painter. Batch painting doesn't really appeal, so getting a whole squad done one miniature at a time is a long process - but when you're done it's exciting.Today I finally finished my War Hounds Veteran Tactical Squadand having been the first squad I actually started it's good to have them now being able to sit proudly next to their completed Tactical Squad brothers. After I had finally worked out markings and a more coherent look, injecting a bit of character into each one of the Veterans really helped bring them to life - and not just have a whole lot of "gun pigs". Because they have taken a long time - back to when I started this journey way back in 2013 (bloody Hell!) - there is a mix of the older and the newer look, but it doesn't look too bad I don't think... Maybe adds a bit more individuality to them?!In terms of rules, I have used the "combat blade" rule to allow axes in the Legion replacing the normal knife The use of axes and extra bladed weapons is in the fluff, plus adds a brutal element to the War Hounds - still keeping in mind that they were honorable warrior Brothers, as this was before they devolved into the barbaric World Eaters covered in spikes and chains.You may also see the occasional swap of a Chainsword for a a Chain Blade on the end of a Bolter. Too cool and totally Oldhammer!War Hounds Legion Veterans also have inverted colouring of their backpacks compared to their Tacitcal Squad Brothers. Like a fair bit of their look, I made this up, but having this extra bit of differentiation between the rank and file and the Veterans helps when they're grouped together - as well as the bronze helmets and knee/ elbow armour or course.Check closely for the odd trophy - an old campaign banner on the back of a backpack or a skull on a belt for example. Didn't want to go too overboard, but at the same time these elements are a bit of fun!You may also see the use of Table Top Adapters for the bases to take them up to the 32mm they need to be. These are excellent and I couldn't rate them highly enough - cheap, simple and really top quality.

April 2017

War Hounds Legion Update - Sergeants & Veteran Vox Dude!

I'm going to put it out there - I've never been good at painting officers. There's this fine line between too much bling and just a guy with a plume on his helmet! So I set about to practise what an officer in the War Hounds Legion would look like.Fist up was the Breacher Squad Sergeant. Really happy with the pose of this guy and this is the first time I've painted Lightning Claws. The torso is a Death Guard one, but perfect for this guy. This is also the first time I decided on the symbol on the shoulders of the Breachers, a smaller Assault cross which seems to be okay.The Assault Squad Sergeant was a bit of fun. Now having double Lightning Claws was interesting and fits well with the War Hounds fearsome reputation. The scroll was added for adornment and I did a similar decoration on one of the Lightning Claws that appears on the Legion Praevian from last month. Notice also the MasterCrafted Veteran Spiked Shoulder Pad. He nearly had two, but thought that was overkill!Not an officer as such, but the Veteran Tactical Vox guy was a chance to try a different type of comms unit which I built onto his glove with Green Stuff and also the face tattoo which I really like. Bit of a risk but he looks hard as frakk!​My first attempt at a Plasma Gun which turned out to be a steep learning curve there - not entirely happy but it's functional.

This update was also a test of the new photobooth - not a great success. It may get retired!

April 2017

WEEKEND HOBBY - WAR HOUNDS PRAEVIAN CONSUL & ROBOT

As you may know, we're huge fans of the Kastelan robot here at Beardy Hammer HQ and considering it's vintage takes it back to the Great Crusade era and potentially WAY before, I really wanted to add one to the War Hounds force - then I came across the ConsulPraevian and it got more interesting!The Consul Praevian came about at all because the Forge World Iron Warriors character is one of my favourites of all time.For both the models, I thought a completely different look to the rest of the War Hounds force to be to reflect the solo nature of the Consul within a Legion - a man and his robots would fit nicely!The dark metal colour scheme with splashes of the War Hounds livery worked pretty well, with the off-centre chest colours and the rampant hound on the Kastelan glove fitting perfectly!The colours on both models were kept very restricted - mainly just metallics, the blue and white and a touch of yellow for the cables (also seen on the Consul around his neck). The Consul has a few other splashes, but not OTT.The Kastelan's exhaust stack is from the Lord of Skulls and is pretty gritty. Overall a good experiment and pretty happy with the results for a very different looking addition to the War Hounds Legion.

5th March 2017

WAR HOUNDS UPDATE - GETTING MEAN WITH TACTICAL SUPPORT!

Bit of a hobby update for the weekend. Hope you got some stuff done too. Was going to be a big one this weekend, but it's too damn hot here in Sydney to do much else than sweat. Anyway, did get this War Hounds Tactical Support guy done. Not sure if he's going to be the Sergeant. According to the new FAQ the Sergeant can now have the same weapons as his squad, unlike the rules printed in Horus Heresy: Betrayal so decided to have as much 'choom' hitting power as possible and add this Volite to the squad - Sergeant or not. The head is from the Chaos Rhino kit, but it fits really well and is suitably expressive for a guy who's going to burn you alive. I've really been trying to ad more character as I go along, so assing the xenos skull to the backpack seemed like a bit of fun.Overall he is part Prospero MKIII and Forge World MKIII with a trip to the bitz box thrown in. I actually really like this pose and although a bit fiddly to paint it does stand out. Placing him in with the other Tactical Support guys he does look like a Sergeant, so maybe that's the way to go.

January 2017

Learning More About The War Hounds Legion Via The Horus Heresy Book "Betrayer"

​I've recently been listening to the Horus Heresy audio book Betrayer and although not the core part of the book, there is a fair bit about the War Hounds legion spattered throughout the book.The book is set 20 years after Angron has taken control of the War Hounds and made massive chamges to the Legion, including changing it's name to the World Eaters.-The big thing to stick out is the thought we had been running with from the beginning of this War Hounds project is that the War Hounds were very different to the World Eaters. Where the World Eaters use almost suicidal attacks to overwhelm their enemies, the War Hounds (like the other Legiones Astartes of the Great Crusade) relied on discipline and logistics to win campaigns. The War Hounds also used armour, including Malcadors, as a vital part of their battle plans.-One of the often-repeated themes of the World Eaters is their gladiatorial elements where the martial expertise of each World Eater is pitted against the other to see who is more dominant - even for positions such a squad leaders etc. Although a strong theme amongst the World Eaters it seems this did not extend to the War Hounds. These feats of prowess were introduced after Angron turned them into the World Eaters and The nails were introduced, going against the inital bond the War Hounds were apparently famous for - comraderie rather than martial discipline. There are multiple references to their loyalty to each other, their codes of honour in combat and a chain of command that was strict and structured based along the lines of all Legions of the time. This all changed after The Nails.-Most War Hounds had The Nails implanted because they saw Angron standing up for them against the Space Wolves when they came to investigate the change in the Legion after he took over. This "band of brothers" attitude in fact lead the newly renamed World Eaters to see Angron as standing up for them against Russ and thus the Emperor as a sign of his loyalty to them. They soon discovered their misplaced enthusiasm.-War Hounds that didn't get the nails implanted were generally killed especially the Librarians. Librarians who had The Nails implanted found it interferred with their psychic gift and caused all kinds of troubles, including the death of whole units of World Eaters. -Although the War Hounds were truly and unforgiving to their enemies in combat, the massacres of whole worlds was by the World Eaters, so post-Angron according to their old Legion Master (now a dreadnought in the Betrayer novel) and not something the War Hounds did.-An interesting aside is that both the War Hounds and World Eaters existed and thrived despite their Primarch. It also seems that many in the ranks wanted him dead even after The Nails and the massacre at Istvaan. He was more a fellow combatant or rogue element rather than a leader. This would make sense considering how easily the World Eaters later broke up into warbands after the Horus Heresy.

28th December 2016

The Beginnings Of A War Hounds Command Squad & More Tactical Support MKIII

Realised today that it's been almost 6 months since the last update - but things have been happening in War Hounds Land (oh what a magical land that would be - with rainbows and unicorns and heads hung from trees!!).Recently we've added a Veteran Space Marine to the ranks, this time with a bit of a twist. Instead of the normal MKIII backpack, we added one of the backpacks from the Sons of Horus. It has cool spikes and we thought we'd take a leaf out of the Righteous Harbingers, we also added a flag of some sort with a campaign badge on it to the backpack. As it turns out, this was the last of the resin Forge World MKIIIs for the War Hounds, because a month later, Burning of Prospero was released and plastic MKIIIs entered the world! *Insert misty music, butterflies & chainswords*

So after Prospero was released, the knife and glue came out and the luxury of just being able to glue together some plastic and easily convert and mix and match parts took over. Four (count them - yes four) Tactical Support Marines I decided one of them needed a back banner (as is my want!) and of course they were sporting nifty Volkites. The banner, by the way, is identical to the banner in the Tactical unit, so this is the look of the generic War Hounds banner that I'll stick with. There's no Company/ Chapter numbers yet as I'm still working that out. Although the Prospero MKIII suits are all-but identical to the Forge World ones, there are small differences - like the rivets being much smaller, the helmets having not as hollow eyes and not being as sloped in the face plate - but you'd only know if you've painted them before and they look identical once in amongst the army!

... but it didn't stop with these pretty chaps - inspired by the Age of $igmar Hero Bases, I decided to start on a Command Squad, mounting each of the members of the unit on these hero bases or similar.. Although the 40K versions would seem more logical, these looked as if the War Hounds were cleansing some lost/ ruined Imperial world.As for the miniature, he is a mix of plastic and FW MKIII. The axe is from the Chaos Warriors kit and seemed to fit in as a brutal weapon these guys would have. The addition of the horn was just an idea I had of something the War Hounds might have - the idea of the War Hounds marching to war to the din of horns and maybe drums really appeals.I thought it would be cool if all members of the Command Squad had back banners, elaborate than the normal marine version though. Speaking of elaborate, his shoulder pad is pretty busy, with the Legion number, Legion symbol, an honour of some type and a Veteran badge all squeezed on. His other shoulder pad is form the Vanguard box (?) with a skull from the Age of $igmar Hero bases on top.Quite like this guy as a basis for a Command Squad - the idea for the helmet I'm still nutting out. Expect more banners!

++ War Hounds Command Squad Update ++

Finally had the chance to update the Command Squad Veteran - a horn worthy of the War Hounds, a Legion who brought the idea of shock and awe to the battlefields of the early Great Crusade. Surely such a Legion would have an audible way to rattle their enemy - not like they were stealthy! This is from the Tomb Kings kit, but I took the cross bar off and the skulls, then shortened it and added the Chaos dragon head to the front. Suitably fearsome to herald the cry of imminent doom from those who stand against them!

November 2016

War Hounds Get SOme Heavy Support In The Shape of A Volkite Culverin

Fear not, the War Hounds are still bubbling along - slowly but surely - and recently I've noticed a few more people doing them which is good - it was getting pretty lonely over here! They are often basing their's on World Eater units, which as far as I can tell came along after Angron came along and smashed nails into their heads. Units like the Ravagers and the Red Butchers. From what I have read, they all came after, in fact the War Hounds were pretty vanilla apart from liking to get close and personal in a fight.But I digress, as this is a pre-Heresy force my initial thought was to arm them with Volkite weapons. They were reasonably common during the Great Crusade, the very era my War Hounds are from. Unfortunately an email to Forge World kind o ruined that idea and I have had to mainly use Bolters - BUT there has been the opportunity to use them at times, and a Heavy Support unit is just one of those times.For the Volkite Culverin, I've used the same scheme as on the others in my force; dark metal with flashes of bronze and gold for the power pack (at least that's what I assume that is). I went a little off the restricted palette with the piping so might revisit that as the unit gets bigger.You might notice a slight change to he shoulder trim - I used the normal Balthazar Gold, then an Agrax Earthshade wash, then I used the new Fulgurite Copper for the highlight and rivets. Makes it stand out more. WIll see how it goes on a few more...Being the first of his unit, this guy is also sporting the Heavy Support icon on his shoulder which I really like! Simple and striking. Who ever came up with those should get a medal!-So that's it - the template for the rest of this unit. Pretty happy all up especially for a quick half day job.

So it might seem like I haven't been doing much on the War Hounds front recently, but in fact I've been adding quite a bit, but not updating this blog. My apologies if you're waiting for new stuff, I'll update very soon.So the big addition is this Vindicator. As you can see I followed the cues from the Sicaran I did to add uniformity to the look. ​With no vehicle markings for the War Hounds ever published, this was a bit of a challenge, but also really quite cool.This model also includes edge highlighting which I didn't do on the Sicaran, purely because I was too scared of stuffing it up!

The Vindicator gave me the opportunity to play around with mixing metallics again - the dark bronze and gunmetal combination. I'm really happy with the cannon, and although there needs to still be a little bit of work, overall I'm very happy with it.This vehicle belongs to the same unit as the Sicaran as you can see by the honour marking on the right hand side of the front blast shield.Slowly this rag-tag group of models is actually becoming a unit as I work out markings and a unified look. The red on the dozer blade really makes me want to use red more!The running boards down the side are scratch built (here's a WIP blog on it) as I love the idea of troops hitching a ride as this crashed through the streets of some destroyed city.This vehicle has more white on it than the Sicaran, but I think this just helps it look less like an Ultramarine vehicle.

May 2016

Time For SOme Heavy Infantry... Yeah, I Know - But "Breacher" Sounds SO Dumb!

So it turns out the War Hounds were into some serious brutality - who knew? Well everyone, that's kind of their thing, so it makes sense that if their Successor Chapter, the World Eaters, had Breacher Squads in their forces, then the War Hounds probably did too!With that in mind, it was time to build some heavy infantry (the terms "Breacher" sounds silly, so they are now "heavy infantry" in my book!)Forge World make some shields that would be appropriate - but when I saw these ones by The Painting BunkerI knew I had to have them!This Marine is still a Work in Progress - but you get an idea of the formidable look these shields give the Marines.If you like the look of the Painting Bunker shields, shoot them a line on their Facebook and see if they have any in stock. If you're thinking about some Breachers/ heavy infantry, some Adeptus Arbites, or maybe your Terminators just need a spruce-up? Try these out!

October 2015

First War Hounds Legion tactical Squad Is Complete!

If you've come across this page before then you may know something about the VIIth Legion "The War Hounds".They have a proud, brutal history, having served the Emperor during the Great Crusade, but falling as brutally as they lived once they were united with their Primarch, who purged the War Hounds and reforged the VIIth in his image - to become the ultimately flawed World Eaters.Creating the War Hounds has been a lengthy project (as you can see below), with only one image existing of how Forge World would like them portrayed. There has been a lot of trial and error- especially with the colour scheme and markings - butthe force is coming along in fits and starts with parts of squads and the odd vehicle (Sicaran, Contemptor and a jet bike W.I.P. for example) along the way.Today though I had one of those major victories hobbyists relish - I finally completed a whole ten man Tactical squad! I have to say, the feeling of accomplishment is great and they do look good together as a unit - especially having been painted individually and not batch painted. You can also see I used the Tabletop Adapter bases to finish them off which I really like.

There aren't many War Hounds Legion forces out there, so I hope my continued work on this force adds to the universe somehow and maybe encourages more people to celebrate a valiant, loyal Legion whose legacy has been mostly lost to time!

October 2015

War Hounds Legion Scimitar Jet Bike - W.I.P.

I really like the look of the Forge World Scimitar Pattern Jet Bike! It's chunky, mass produced-looking, like a flying version of Judge Dredd's bike and although quite small, it's beasty next to xenos vehicles like Eldar jet bikes and even the Dark Eldar Raider!The only change I made was reversing the little wings on the front to make them look more blade-like, appropriate for the War Hounds I think, and converting the rider to have a version of MKIII armour. Still to come is extra weapons and decoration to add to the bike - but it's a start!

September 2015

WAR HOUNDS LEGION UPDATE - THE TACTICAL SQUAD EXPLODES!

The War Hounds have in the past been bit of a slow road, but I've recently finally worked out the way to get the blue consistent when not batch painting (I paint one mini at a time), the weathering of the white as well as squad markings and variants, mixing the limited background fluff with the rules and then translating that onto the models. Over the past couple of week I have added added four Tactical Marines to the War Hounds, experimenting with more dynamic posing as well the Master Crafted Spikey Veteran Shoulder we reviewed the other week.

Here's a group shot of the four new additions. You can see by the first image I was working on some more dynamic poses, and the second image gives you a look at all their extra stabby bits!

The vast majority of my War Hounds are helmeted, creating the idea of a blue wall of ceramite and plas-steel. The only other War Hound without a helmet is a Veteran, but why not have a Tactical dude who just wanted to go all feral and feel the wind in his face, the blood in his eyes... well they are War Hounds after all. I like the slow advance pose and the head from the plastic Space Marine box harks back to Rogue Trader designs.

This guy is a brother marine to the last one I finished (April 2015). It's a pretty standard Tactical pose, both on guard and ready to move at any point, a salute to the tactical nature of the role. You'll notice that he has a Chainblade on his Bolter which means he would also have a dagger. Tactical Marines without the Chainblade have a dagger and Chainsword.

This war Hound was a slight departure for the Tacticals, holding his Bolter in one hand and his Chainsword in the other, drawn as if to take on a foe in hand to hand combat - and likely win! As explained above, as he has a Chainsword, he would only have a dagger as back up close combat weapon. This not only matches the fluff but also the rules.There are a number of markings on his Chainsword including the L:egion number, some text (which I am enjoying using more and more on the models) and a symbol of some kind. Maybe a personal or Lodge sigil.

Like his fellow Tactical marines, this guy was an experiment in how far I could push the 'tactical' idea. Yes, he has his close combat weapon drawn as if in the throws of a fight, but he also has the Bolter drawn and his feet firmly planted on the ground, unlike Assault Marines who tend to be jumping around. The use of the Master Crafted Spikey Veteran Shoulder meant I needed to move the Legion number and Tactical symbol somewhere, so why not try the forearm for the Legion number (like the Assault Marine in the November 2014 Update) and using a small Tactical insignia on the shoulder with the War Hound Symbol. I think it works and will likely use this combination again. Now rethinking if I should add those mini Tactical symbols to all the Tactical Marines...?!The combat knife here, BTW, is standard for my War Hounds and is a re-purposed old Space Wolf one. Thanks to Facebook Groups I have added a few more of these to my collection recently!

May-June 2015

WAR HOUNDS SPACE MARINE UPDATE Plus Some ADDING FLUFF To The Miniatures!

Believe it or not, I have an update to my War Hounds Space Marines force - and direction has inspired me on a bit of a path.You know sometimes when you're painting and it just hits you that the direction should be this way? That happened!!Having started using two simple tools, I now have a better idea of how they would have been armed and then using the fluff I know, it helped the look. Elites can be easy because they have better gear, but what about the foot slogging Tactical War Hounds? Well I think I might have it!The first thing that really inspired me was getting this guy right. This is the War Hound I will be basing all of my Tactical War Hounds off. The stance is strong and very Space Marine. The recipe between the MKII and MKIII armour seems right and the Chainblade on the Bolter finally feel right! But it was the addition of the mag-locked knife that really got me. I think this is an old Space Wolf knife (I can't find them online anywhere!!) and it just seems to fit really nicely in a bulky kind of way!

+ + Adding Fluff + +

Even before their transformation into the World Eaters, the War Hounds carried a lot of close combat weapons - even Tactical and vehicle crewmen:

In addition to the use of the ubiquitous combat blades or gladius, even Legionaries attached to reconnaissance squads and vehicle crews commonly carried chainblades, flay-cutters and mono-serrated bayonets, back-up knives, hatchets and cleavers. In dedicated assault units this profusion of bloody killing tools was added to by a weapon that dated back to the techno-barbarian tribes of Terra, the broad-bladed ChainaxeWarhammer 40,000 Wiki

This is of course excellent fluff to add to miniatures - any excuse is a good excuse really! Looking through the Tactical Squad rules for Horus Heresy I found that Tactical Squads can carry and extra Chainsword or blade for 20 points each Marine. Let the extra weapon painting begin!!

My thought its - if the Marine already has a Chainblade on his Bolter then I only need to accommodate one extra blade somewhere on him. For the newer Marine it meant a knife, for the older one I could accommodate a full Chainsword and will add the Chainblade to his Bolter later.In my mind the look of the Tacticals is now happening, in fact straight after finishing this new Marine I built two more to add to the squad!Now the War Hounds Tactical Marines are starting to scream the close combat Zone Mortalis tactics they are meant to!!

The Sergeant is the first of my War Hounds I have built since successfully navigating the Army List with the help of these two invaluable tools! As such I felt pretty confident that he would actually be armed correctly, but I wanted him to be very Tactical, so I opted for the Bolter to create that 30K gun line feel. When it came to his close combat weapon, I was able to find these plastic chainswords from the metal miniature days in my bitz box. I wanted the crest on his helmet to look worn as if the dust of 100 worlds had blown through it's bristles, so I used successive grey and brown washed applied and 3 layers of highlights.

Once the sergeant was complete I could see how I needed to do running changes to the look of the Tactical marine that I'd already done.I added a small amount of white to the backpack which stops the big block of blue that was happening before. I'm now thinking that as War Hounds get higher in rank they add more white to their backpacks. The highest ranking officer I have done already has a lot of white on his.I still want to retain the original dark blue of the World Eaters as seen in the original Epic game and accompanying artwork from the beginning of the 40K universe before they went and changed everything.You will notice I also fixed the tactical symbol on the shoulder - initially I only had the "XII" on the shoulder pad of Veterans, but I liked it so much I managed to just squeeze them on the normal War Hounds too.

I now feel like the look of the run of the mill War Hounds is done (sound familiar?) so I can move on to making this whole 10 man squad.

War Hounds Legion Contemptor Dreadnought Completed... Finally!

In late 2013 I bought myself a Contemptor Dreadnought with the lofty ideals are having it done pretty quickly and adding some firepower to what was then just a few War Hounds Space Marines.Over time the information on War Hounds markings started to defeat me and put a halt on that "quick build" - but today I have finished it finally!(Of course now I've taken the pics I've discovered a few things to touch up but isn't that always the way!)I did the proscribed reverse markings of the World Eaters with a slight twist so it didn't look completely weird and added some wolfie bits to reflect their iconography. The hand moulded leg hound may not have been the best idea!I realise the aquila across his chest might be a stretch for the time period the War Hounds were active, but as an honour given to an entombed veteran I think it could be a possibility.I've mentioned the twin wolves heads before (below in one of the updates) but I wanted there to be a hint of things to come and despite the War Hounds becoming World Eaters when they did turn on each other it seemed like a fun thing to do anyway!There don't seem to be many people doing War Hounds armies which has meant momentum has been halted a number of times during this force's life purely from lac k of inspiration. But I've seemed to have hit on a look I like for them so that's the way they will be! Notice lack of spikes on this guy BTW

As you can see I chose a mix of metallics, from the dark steel to the heavy bronze to a lighter bronze. With the amount of metal on the figure dominance of two just didn't work and after much experimentation this seems to work.

As a tip from someone who's just finished their first Contemptor, paint it in sub-assemblies. It's a pain in the butt to get around all the bits and pieces and paint them well.

January 2015

WAR HOUNDS LEGION TERMINATOR STOMPS INTO COMBAT

Over the last week I have been practicing the various colour schemes for my War Hounds Space Marine force.The other day was the Assault Marine(below), today it's a Terminator in Cataphractii Pattern armour from Forge World.The Cataphractii armour is both ornate and a pain in the butt to paint - typical of Forge World I have recently discovered. The execution is fiddly, as there's a fair bit to do - but what I did find while doing this one is the amount of fun you can have on the details and how well it can come up in the end. The armour also looks very different to the other marks of Terminator armour, so you get that feel of age.There is one major flaw with this armour though - very little room for the Legion symbol - BUT the shoulder pad is perfect for the larger Legion numerical designation decal. It looks huge, but I love the look of it there!I also used my research into the Great Crusade era markings having trawled through the 3 Horus Heresy books. Went a bit simpler than the Assault Marine (below), but it still seems effective and fits.

Again I kept the scheme very limited in palette and kept the white very sparing - only really using it on the shoulders, the buckle around the waist and the pipes at the back which are heavily weathered. I also kept the gun (and chainblade) very simple so not to distract from the Terminator.I'm not sure if this is exactly how he should look, but think it must be pretty close. I do love having the two types of metal playing off one another - the bronze and the dark steel look great together!I resisted adding lightning bolts to him for the Terran Unification campaign, but may add them later - simple is best right now for this test guy.

November 2014

WAR HOUNDS ASSAULT SPACE MARINE TAKES TO THE AIR

With the Tactical War Hounds Space Marines well underway (see below), the Sicaran Battle Tank basecoated and a Dreadnought gathering dust while I desperately search for inspiration, it was probably time to distract myself further and try out a scheme for an War Hounds Assault dude.The pose was supposed to be a salute to The Rocketeer. I imagined a big plume of smoke and him bracing himself as he was about to be carried skyward - unfortunately it's a little less dynamic than I hoped. I'm thinking of a change of base and angle...I swept his arms back to make him look a bit aerodynamic, potential fail there. His jump pack is a MaxMini one which is very detailed to the point of annoying to paint! There are so many hoses and pipes and wires, beautifully done, but also all on top of each other which is fiddly.I did also buy the Bronze Pattern ones, but they seem a bit big for this guy, so stuck with the Silver Wing ones.I couldn't find Forge World jump packs anywhere! They used to sell them separately, but no more it seems. The Power Axe is from the Power Weapons set which has come in handy for lots of conversions and totally worth the money.The War Hounds icon is a touch too big for MKIII, so have had to order another sheet from Forge World. It seems they icons on the decal sheets are divided into MKIII (smaller) and then the rest of the armour marks. This one is obviously for one of those.

Notice I also added Great Crusade era markings having trawled through the 3 Horus Heresy books to find out where icons were placed and why. Having those kind of icons on the gloves (especially with MKIII) seemed to be very popular during the Heresy and earlier. I like the look, so I might go back and add them to my Tactical guys too. For the sergeant I will likely use the rank insignia described in the Crusade Era markings post from last week. Hoping for a more dynamic pose though...

November 2014

War hounds Space marines - Now With Your Added Feedback!

After my last post (below) about the test version of a standard non-Veteran War Hound Space Marine, I took the generous feedback away and had a bit of a look at my guy who - lets face it - was too blue! He didn't blend in with the other guys and looked a little flat.So I took the bronze shoulder trim of the Veterans and added that to the test Marine. As run-of-the-mill World Eaters have bronze shoulder trim it makes sense their progenitors would too.So, finally, a standard non-Veteran War Hounds Space Marine. Thanks again for your comments!

October 2014

War Hounds Space Marines Non-Veteran Colour Scheme... finally!

Despite appearing in a short story and being featured in the Horus Heresy Book 1 - Betrayal, the War Hounds are a bit of a mystery. As you may have read below, the only picture is a veteran War Hounds Space Marine - but what did the non-veterans look like?It has caused some pretty serious angst as I try to work it out. It looks like they basically have the reversed World Eaters scheme, but looks can be deceiving!

So despite the colour scheme testing and lots of research, there really didn't seem to be concrete answer - so I went to Forge World. I sent them a barrage of questions, and amongst the short answers I got back was this:

The basic colour scheme is the reverse of the World Eaters one. So, where a World Eater is blue, a War hound would be white and vice versa.

So there we have it! An answer - permission to go wild with the dark blue - which is exactly what I wanted as it reflected the original World Eaters colour scheme as seen in the Epic game.

The Macragge Blue got a workout here I have to tell you as almost all the white and all of the bronze disappeared.Pictured here with one of the veterans, you can see the expanse of blue is... well Ultramarine-like only darker. I avoided extreme highlights so as not to lighten the blue and keep it from looking like an Ultramarine.

The shoulder symbols were pretty much the same. I did leave the Legion number off the shoulder as this seemed like something a veteran would be more likely to have rather than a grunt.The Emperor's Attack Dogs - The War Hounds Space Marines - Veteran and Marine. Although the all blue took a while to get used to after so much bronze, I can see these guys being in the same Legion. Notice his lack of spikes. Forge World also said that the War Hounds would have been less spikey than the World Eaters, but in Horus Heresy Book 1 - Betrayal, it does mention they did have some spikes. Maybe just for the champions and sergeants.This War Hound was painted using the faster style painting we spoke about before with the Drakenhof Nightshade over the spray Macragge Blue, highlighted with the base colour, then the details picked out with the base colour.In retrospect I would have done darker shading on the shoulder pads, but that may be for next time.

So, minus the Dreadnought, here are the War Hounds so far.Having made this standard War Hound now, I can see how the following marines will be done. Maybe next time I will experiment with the Nuln Oil wash again - it just gives more depth!

July 2014

More war Hounds reinforcements

Another Marine to add to the growing War Hounds force- this one with a few different items that I haven't added to any of the War Hounds before.This is the first War Hounds marine I have used a MKII helmet on as generally they don't look as strong as the MKIII I think. Issue is the torso doesn't fit the MKIII helmet very well, in fact it doesn't fit any helmet very well! This helmet just fitted with the help of a small blob of Green Stuff on the base of the helmet to lift it over the ridge of the neck armour.The helmet does actually look pretty good, so I'll look at trying one of those again.This is also the first War Hound who has a close combat weapon. It's written in the background that close combat weapons were very common amongst the War Hounds, so this makes sense. This weapon was a bit of a kit bash to get that vicious look! (Below) It's a Black Ork axe head with a plastic rod wrapped in Green Stuff and a Chaos Spikey sprue for the end. I used the same bronze and metal combination to keep it tied in with the scheme of the whole model.I've decided to call the guy "Brute" because it just seems to work. I can see him in the World Eaters scheme - he's a good transition model between the two Chapters.

Here's the before and after for the axe. Notice the MKIII helmet not quite fitting...!

Again notice the use of the World eaters Transfer Sheet for the decals. Also he has no extra spikes to tie him back to the very first War Hound I did who didn't have any of the extra spikes. He looked a bit over the top with the extra spikes anyway!

June 2014

War Hounds Space Marine Reinforcements

With the success of the Macragge blue test and experimenting with the Citadel Washes, the thought of doing many more War Hounds has certainly become easier.The colour scheme itself isn't intrinsically difficult, but as any Ultramarine hobbyist will tell you; blue is not an exciting colour to be painting a lot of.That, and then putting the white over the top and... well you get the rest.BUT, with this all behind me I'm happy to be able to get this guy done and another close behind.This miniature is the very first War Hound without a helmet. Despite his stance, he's not the sergeant, rather a marine urging his brothers forward or spotting a sniper.Here you will notice the usual Chaos Knight shoulder pad over his right shoulder and the use of the World Eaters Transfer Sheet from Forge World for the Legion symbol and the Legion's numerical designation.I'm pretty happy with his face which is 2 x layers of Agrax Earthshade over the old Foundation Paints flesh tone, then 3 x layers of highlighting to the raised areas of the face and scalp. I kept other colours to a minimum as other colours with blue just seem to turn these guys into circus clowns!The Bolter is currently without decoration, but this may change as the unit gets more united in look. I really like the pose on this guy and the mix of the MKIII legs, arms and shoulders with the MKII torso seem to all come together. The extra armour on the toes of these new MKIII suits is great!

June 2014

Nuln Oil vs. Drakenhof Nightshade

The experiment with using the Citadel Washes was a success!As you can see below I used the Nuln Oil for the first time instead of the long watered down paint option I was using earlier.Because Nuln Oil is a black was I wanted to try the wash Citadel had designed for blue; Drakenhof Nightshade.It's a very dark blue, so perfect for going over Macragge Blue - or so one would think.The colour itself is very good, perfect in fact, but the coverage is not. It doesn't flow as well as Nuln Oil, nor does it seem to provided the flat contrast one would want.As far as colour goes, Nuln Oil is on the left, and Drakenhof Nightshade is on the right - they are almost identical!The Drakenhof Nightshade may be better for vehicles or larger models, but the mix seems thicker than the Nuln Oil, meaning it pools in the wring places and sometimes not staying in the recesses.It could be my batch - but as far as miniatures go, I'd stick to Nuln Oil for that dark blue look you're be after.

May 2014

Catching Up On Some War Hounds Space Marine Projects

Here's the thing - I really like the War Hounds, but my previous way of painting them meant that it could take 2 - 3 days to paint one guy. Okay, so the result was cool, but it did leave me not in the biggest rush in the world to do another one - and I really do want to do more. I see people's work, like James Karch's World Eaters, and I am impressed and inspired - then I see my few War Hounds and punch myself in the head.Previously I hand painted on the basecoat, then mixed a Necron Abyss/ Black paint mix thinned down to a wash, and slowly added this to the right spots. This wash process alone could take an hour as I picked out each rivet and leached away the areas I wanted to stay without wash.So I set about trying a new way to do it!Recently I have been experimenting with Nuln Oil and I like the effect I get. I've also been using Agrax Earthshade on skin and many other bits to great effect - so I thought 'why not see how Nuln Oil goes on the basecot?'... and I have to say, so far, it's been pretty good!There's probably a blue I could have used, but I like the contrast and the flat nature of the Nuln Oil.I let that dry, then picked out the rivets with more Nuln Oil and it came up okay for a very quick wash.Combining this with the Magragge Blue Spray will mean I can at least basecoat and wash models in greater numbers than one at a time.If only I had better understanding of how their pre-Imperium markings worked!Now, if this guy looks very different to the others I have done, then this will be the start of a Tactical Squad rather than an addition to the current Veterans Squad I am doing.This particular miniature is in a pose as if he is pointing his Brothers to a sniper or an objective. He is also the first War Hound I have done without a helmet. I was watching Coriolanus last night, and the shots of Ralph Fiennes all bloodied up gave me a few ideas!

The afore-mentioned floundering Contemptor really needed a bit of love - he was on the road, but just not there!Seeing other people's Contemptors, this just looks like a big marine, so it was time to give it a little bit of love.I scrapped the original paint job on the scroll and started again.I glued his cannons on so I could properly match the colours. Will have to do some work on this - looks a bit ordinary - maybe some rune work, but again the background of the War Hounds is so shrouded in mystery I can't work out what kind of iconography they would have. I like the pose for him, but once the ground is detailed and done I think he will start to come alive a bit more... I hope!There's lots of different details all over this guy now, I just have ti unite it all.Following the success with the marine above, I am wondering if a full repaint isn't the worse thing in the world. Will hold off for now until it seems as if all is lost.The base needs a lot more work until it's done, but once it matches the others, the unit cohesion should be a bit more obvious.Any ideas - let me know!

May 2014

Macragge Blue Spray Comes to the Rescue!

Macragge Blue Spary used on the model on the left. Mordian Blue Paint used on the model on the right.

When Games Workshop replaced the old Citadel Foundation Paint Mordian Blue with Macragge Blue I had terrible visions of having to repaint all of my War Hounds Space Marines.I've been holding off buying Macragge Blue purely out of worry, even pricing old pots of Mordian Blue on eBay.But today I picked up a can of the Macragge Blue spray mainly in the hopes of a better way to paint the first vehicle project for the War Hounds, the Sicaran Battle Tank. The painful process of using a brush to paint that much blue just seems boring! The Contemptor was challenging enough.Thankfully - the Macragge Blue Spray is a perfect match! Citadel have done an absolutely bang-up job matching it to the old Foundation Paint Mordian Blue and I have to say... I am relieved! As well as the Sicaran Battle Tank, this opens up the possibility of building my army a lot faster as well. Starting with a light coat of white undercoat, then a solid coat of Macragge Blue spray.

Here's hoping this is the start of many more War Hounds Space Marines and a fair few vehicles too!

March 2014

War Hounds Space marine Update

As other projects and life get in the way, my fledgling force of Tactical Pre-Heresy War Hounds Space Marines has been slowly bubbling along - but today I can show you a mini that's been coming along for a while. For the keen of eye, this is the first War Hound with a Bolter. I had considered long and hard if I would use Bolters at all, as it seemed pre-Heresy and certainly pre-Imperium Space Marines used Volkite weapons. After must consultation and finally word from Forge World, it was ascertained that in fact Bolters were used in those fledgling years... I'm still not sure I agree with that, but there you go!

No glue means never having to decide if he uses a Volkite or a Bolter!Me = 1 - Angst = 0

February 2014

MORE WAR HOUNDS SPACE MARINES ON THE WAY!

It's been a while since there has been movement on my War Hounds Pre-Heresy Legion, and Arthur Dixon on our Facebook asked if they were still being worked on - and yes, sir, indeed they are!I am currently working on the Contemptor (see below) and it's taking a fair bit of time! It's a nice kit, but not only is it fiddly, it's also a different scale to get used to painting. It's easy to get used to the size of Space Marines, but what do you do with all those bigger sections? They look so plain! This weekend you will see a new Tactical Trooper go up!In the works there is a Sicaran Battle Tank which I am desperate to get to, but concerned how it will look now that the original base coat for the War Hounds Mordian Blue has been replaced with Macragge Blue.The upcoming miniatures look great - more dynamic that's for sure, so keep your eyes peeled for some updates! I've been feeling enthused about them recently, especially as I experiment with more poses and work out who is who in my unit.I will also soon be working on a non-Veteran miniature just to get that scheme sorted too!

While doing some research into anything I could find out about the War Hounds Space Marines, I ran across something interesting.During the Great Crusade, the War Hounds Space Marine Legion was split up into smaller units and sent out into the galaxy.

When the War Hounds were reunited with their Primarch and became the World Eaters, it wasn't the entire Legion - my theory is that the elements that later returned to the bosom of the Empire became the Carcharodon Space Marines.

War Hounds Space Marine Contemptor Update

Contemptor Dreadnoughts are veteran warriors entombed in mighty walking weapons platforms. They aren't robots, and they are certainly held in high regard, at times reverence, by their fellow combatants.With this in mind it was about time this guy got some sprucing up - he needed some kid of markings to identify himself as important. He already had the embossed Chapter Symbol on his lower leg, the Iron Halo on his head and an honour scroll (which I've painted about 4 times!) - but what about the man inside - his accomplishments?Then I came up with the idea of using the secondary symbol the War Hounds use - the wolf's head. I don't know how or why this is used in the Chapter, but I've chosen to use it on this guy already, so why not go the whole hog and add some markings that would show him as a warrior and a champion.I chose the somewhat ironic image of two War Hounds facing off, In the future War Hound would fight War Hound (as the World Eaters) during the Horus Heresy. This symbol would not only show he was a fierce combatant among the chapter, but also point to things to come - a bit of an in-joke really.I painted these on free hand. The one on the right worked out well, but the one on the left isn't as strong and slightly higher. Bloody annoying - still, I think the image is powerful enough to carry off this slight error.

There's a lot more to do on this guy, but at least he's starting to have some character!

December 2013

War Hounds Space Marine Contemptor Work in Progress

Twas the night before the night before Christmas and all through the land,Not a creature was stirring nor enemy of Man...... at no point did I say I could do poetry!

So here's a break down of what i'm thinking when it comes to the War Hounds Contemptor.It's reasonably early stages; I have the major paint apps done and am pretty happy with how they sit.They compliment each other and do match the rest of the squad so far.I do however need to make him stand out more - he's not a big Space marine, he is an honoured veteran.

To the left you can see my thought process so far. I did a lot of reading about Crusade Era markings and iconography and basically came up pretty blank.Sure Iron Halos existed and honour scrolls and the like, but not much else.I therefore came up with the helmet/ lightning bolt idea - the lightning bolts for the Emperor of Mankind before the advent of the Imperium and the helmet because I cam up with this idea:"For the War Hounds, the helmet of the interned Contemptor pilot is the last thing his enemies would have seen before he killed them. The tradition lives on as his helmet is attached to his Contemptor for eternity."In my head it works, just not sure about the gold bolts and bronze helmet. They may look better steel.

The highlights of Bronze continue across from the troops, as do the small areas of gold.The white shoulders also come across and the bronze knee pads (I broke one of mine, so that's a bit crap!).

The Steampunk influence on the weapons really picked up steam with this guy. I may make it more extreme, but over doing it just kills it.

The hand moulded Chapter symbol on his leg worked nicely and actually took a bit of work once painted to make it not look flat.

I'm thinking a large symbol across his chest would have been better than the aquila - maybe a wolf's head! When the super-detailing happens there will be more experimentation - hopefully not ruining it entirely.

Getting our War Hounds Tactical Transfers on!

Pretty happy with the recipe for my War Hounds now, I cracked out the World Eaters Transfer sheet from Forge World and sliced and diced the XII Legion transfer and the Tactical Squad transfer.. and here we are!!I wanted something to look older than the current 40k markings, so adding the Legion number to the middle and trimming the middle of the arrow out seemed to do the trick. Ideally i'd have liked the number to be more dominant, but the arrow wouldn't have fitted.

Notice the Contemptor WIP in the background? Stay tuned

Combining the two transfers was pretty painless...

My free-hand War Hounds symbol. Still very proud of it - even if he does look a bit fat!

With all this love for the transfer sheet - this is actually the Marine with the free-hand War Hounds Chapter Symbol on his other shoulder!

December 2013

War Hounds Space Marines as Gladiators?

I've been thinking a lot about how my friend Rob talked about the War Hounds having an element of gladiator to them; they fight in tournaments against one another, they are brutal hand-to-hand fighters and they fight to the death when in combat.As such I'm thinking of heading more towards gladiators and potentially building them gladiator-style helmets to go with their spikey armour. Gladiators also had fighting gauntlets - maybe a bit of a twist on Power Fists...?!The images below made me think it could work - what do you think?

A typical Roman gladiator helmet - would the War Hounds look good in these - or a version of?

Have a look at this though - the WWI U.S. Experimental Number 8 Gladiator Style Combat Helmet. Imagine that in 1916 combat! How cool...

War Hounds Space Marine Commander

As you will see below, I have been forging my way through the look of the War Hounds Space Marines so it was only a matter of time before the Commander came to be.In essence he was pretty easy as the only picture we have of the War Hounds is the one below from Forge World, with his bronze helmet denoting his rank as a Veteran.What I was able to do with this guy was bring the previous 2 minis into some form of uniformity despite mixed ideas of colours and also markings.

December 2013

War Hounds Helmet colour - Blue vs White vs Bronze

The bronze helmet that Forge World show on the Veteran is probably the best look for them in general, but normal Marines - what did they wear if not eh bronze? If it's a reversed World Eaters scheme, then blue would be logical. All in all it looks okay, but misses the brutality the bronze brings..

Painting the Commander mini also gave me the opportunity to experiment further with the helmet colour.As you may have read before, I was originally doing them white, but that just didn't match (see below) and I have mixed feeling with the blue.

December 2013

Reimagining the War Hounds Space Marines

"Because we couldn’t be trusted. The Emperor needed a weapon that would never obey its own desires before those of the Imperium. He needed a weapon that would never bite the hand that feeds. The World Eaters were not that weapon. We’ve all drawn blades purely for the sake of shedding blood, and we’ve all felt the exultation of winning a war that never even needed to happen. We are not the tame, reliable pets that the Emperor wanted. The Wolves obey, when we would not. The Wolves can be trusted, when we never could. They have a discipline we lack, because their passions are not aflame with the Butcher’s Nails buzzing in the back of their skulls. The Wolves will always come to heel when called. In that regard, it is a mystery why they name themselves wolves. They are tame, collared by the Emperor, obeying his every whim. But a wolf doesn’t behave that way. Only a dog does. That is why we are the Eaters of Worlds, and the War Hounds no longer."

Captain Khârn of the World Eaters Legion's 8th Assault Company, from his unpublished treatise The Eighteen Legions

Hello - you've come to the War Hounds Space Marine section of OzDestro.com at an interesting time.This is the part of any Project Log where part-way through it's discovered things are either all wrong or the writer has had an epiphany!That's today... indulge me. I have been scouring the net to find others painting War Hounds and have come up with one video and no other pictures - which makes it seem like i'm kind of inventing this... while not inventing this. As you will see below, I've been doing a lot of research into this relatively new Chapter of Space Marines using the one image we have been given (left) and a short passage from Tales of Heresy - not a lot to go on.

For the full story, scroll down and read what we've been doing

So, here's where we're at. As their colour scheme is basically a reversing of their Successor Chapter the World Eaters, it would stand to reason that their helmets would either be white or blue... and that's fine - but they didn't look very good white (or blue) and I questioned continuing painting them at all.

World Eaters Scheme

War Hounds Scheme

Maybe it was my painting skill, but the white helmets just didn't suit and blue was a bit meh.So since there's just one picture to go off and it's wearing the Veteran bronze helmet, I'm going to change my unit to a Veteran unit so I can spend some time experimenting with schemes and not leave you waiting for updates while I dick around and change my mind over and over again!Ideally this will be it - and as the Contemptor is in full swing as we speak, it won't be affected, but I think this was the right move until I can get some more info.

The two versions of the War Hounds; on the left the newer one and on the right the previous version you will have seen if you read the Project Log below. Look how white and clean he looks!!

For me the white, although shaded just didn't match. These bronze helmets look, as my friend Rob said "more gladiatorial", and he's right! That even matches the stories of martial prowess trials within the ranks of the War Hounds.

If you're painting War Hounds Space Marines we'd love to see what you have been doing and how you see the War Hounds.Drop us a line...

November 2013

Spikey Spikey War Hounds Space marine

As I slowly flesh out the look of these guys, I'm finding some fantastic bits online - mainly on Ebay that really bring these pre-Imperium guys to life.From torsos to arms and helmets, to weapons and myriad of bits - it really is a treasure trove!

This torso was just the thing - proudly displaying the pre-Imperium lightning bolts of the Emperor for all to see.I added a different Chaos Knight shoulder pad to this guys shoulder. I think it works, but paint will be the true test.In his hand is a Volkite Charger, typical for a Space Marine of his time.In his other hand a warhammer from a Dark Angels set (?) which suited the mood of these brutal hand to hand fighters.The arms are each made from three different arms: modern upper arms, MKIII forearms and a mix of hands to suit.

November 2013

War Hounds Space Marine Squad Starts to Build

As I build more of these guys I get a better idea in my head about how they should look - problem being is, I've already made one that is very vanilla looking... Oh well!So, I found in my bits box today some Chaos Kinghts shoulder armour, and it looks perfect on the War Hounds guys. It states that the War Hounds quite often added spikes to their armour, particularly the shoulder armour, so this seems appropriate - but more of that when I get the other bits I ordered on eBay and further develop the look of my War Hounds.

The marine below sports the World Eaters Rampager Squad torso from Forge World, a link to their eventual incarnation as the World Eaters, plus a heavily converted Black Orc axe. I haven't added the Chaos Knight shoulder armour to this guy as you can see.

Here you can see the MKII World Eaters Rampager Squad torso on the MKIII suit. The axe is a Black Orc axe but more about that ------->

The axe conversion was pretty straight forward. I took one of the smaller Black Orc axes and cut it about half way down the shaft. I then glued that to an assault marine angled hand. The rest of the shaft is plastic rod with green stuff to mimic the Black Orc one. The skull is from the Chaos Vehicle bits sprue, trimmed and glued on the end of the plastic rod. I think it's quite effective, if a bit long!

October 2013

I finally received my MKII bits in the mail, so decided to go about testing the Chaos Kinghts shoulder armour mod. It looks pretty good!I tested it on both shoulders and this one looked the best - I guess I just put the Chapter symbol on the other shoulder?!

The Chaos Knight shoulder armour fitted ok to the top of a Space marine shoulder pad. I trimmed the edge off the top of the shoulder and it pretty much slipped right on.

Better shot of the shoulder. As you can see if fits nicely. I haven't seen this done before, so I hope i've stumbled onto something new!

This is my first set of MKII and although t I like it for the legs and chest, I prefer the MKIII helmet and in future will use MKIII arms - the MKII arms just aren't bulky enough.This is also the first time I've used a Volkite Charger(which is bloody hard to find on the ForgeWorld site BTW) which are quite nice, but in retorspect I think the Volkite Caliver would have looked better or even the Volkite Culvern(below).

When the Forge World Contemptor Dreadnought was released, I have to say I was just a touch excited!It harked back to the days of the "robots" and "dreadnoughts" in the Epic game, so here was a chance to paint one up and make it all pretty-fied..So what is the Contemptor? According to the Lexicanium:

The Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought is a Space Marine Dreadnought developed prior to the Horus Heresy. The Contemptor is larger and more powerful than standard Dreadnought patterns, featuring systems similar to those used by the automatons of the Adeptus Mechanicus Legio Cybernetica branch, including Atomantic Shielding field generator technology that would be implemented into the Storm Shields of Space Marine Terminators.

In the late 80s Games Workshop released their first 28mm versions of the Epic Dreadnoughts (left and below) with limited success it has to be said!

More recently, Forge World have released a number of different versions, especially for the various Legions in the Horus Heresy era, but as this is not only pre-Heresy, but technically during the Great Crusade before the War Hounds found their Primarch and became the.World Eaters I just went with the plain old Contemptor..In reality, the War Hounds may never have had Contemptors, but as this is my pre-Heresy Legion it's just going to be the way!Games Workshop haven't written much about the War Hounds, so it's all open to conjecture... see what I did there?

I didn't do any significant body work, mainly starting with the GW Greenstuff on the armour. As I don't have a real feel for the War Hounds and their iconography I'm kind of making it up as I go along. It's a mix of World Eaters and, as the troops all come from Earth (Terra), an early no frills Earth-based Imperial look.

The War Hounds Insignia. I decided to add it in Greenstuff. In this shot he looks like he's smiling, so will have to fiddle with that! Initially I was going to paint it on with stripes as the backgorund, but the last insignia took so long, this was supposed to be the easier option!

This is an adaptation of the Great Crusade-era symbol for the Emperor and his legions - the crossed thunderbolts. As there is no War Hounds version as such, I just added a skull (and not my best I might add - this might change!) to fill the middle.

One of the only other confirmed Great Crusade-era honour markings I could find was the Iron Halo. Being that this is an encased hero, I figured this would be appropriate! I'm leaving the chest eagle as it's a sign of devotion to the Emperor himself.

September 2012

Update:

So as I said previously, I'm still working out how the iconography of the War Hounds will go, so when I put the skull on the right shoulder, I knew it was just a stop-gap.It would be all too easy to put a dog's head there instead, but the with Luna Wolves legion already in the pre-heresy canon, it doesn't make much sense.So then I thought, why not just have his helmet in place of the skull?

"To show his martial prowess, the visage that faced his enemy down that fateful glorious day he was mortally wounded, is displayed amongst the Emperor's lightning bolts to again face his enemies down for all eternity..."

The War Hounds, like the World Eaters that followed them, have a brutal martial tradition that honours the warrior - even if that is at the cost of his own comrades.It's survival of the fittest really!The helmet was the last thing the enemy would see of him as he strode forth to smite them down in The Emperor's Name.I simply took a Forge World MKIII helmet and cut the front plate off, trimmed the back to fit around the bolts and stuck it down. I glued my fingers 1/2 a dozen times which ruined the sheen on the helmet, but eventually got there!Pretty happy with it actually and it looks much better than the crappy skull I moulded. (above).

Great Crusade Era War Hounds Space Marine

Forgeworld's rendition of a War Hounds Space Marine. Notice the bronze metallic pieces as a sign of rank.

Ok - so it's new project time.For some time i've wanted to use the Forgeworld Heresy armour sets. I have a few - the Mk IV being my favourite, but I have a real sort spot for the MK III. Issue is there weren't many Chapters around and none of them excite me too much!So as I went through the Forgeworld Horus Heresy Betrayal Book I came across the War Hounds.

Now personally it seems that Forgeworld are trying to clean up some of the inconsistencies with the old previosuly-published colour schemes used for Space Marine Chapters that no longer fit in with the current canon.For example, the Death Guard used to have their right arm red and their armour a light grey.Well not in the current storyline, that's for sure. So they invent the Dusk Raiders and give them a vaguely similar scheme and all is fix, right?Below is the Epic Space Marine box art for the Death Guard - then compare it to the Dusk Raider on the right from the Forgeworld Horus Heresy Betrayal Book I. Now they just say the Death Guard were once known as the Dusk Raiders who had that colour scheme and there's the inconsistency gone! (BTW, how much better is this original Chapter insignia?!)

Death Guard troops from Epic Space Marine (left) and the very similar Dusk Raiders (right) in 2013

So this is basically what they did with the War Hounds and the World Eaters too - they took their old colour scheme, put it on a Legion who would later fond their Primach, be renamed the World Eaters and change their colour scheme to the one we know today! Hey presto - continuity!

'[...]And when the worms came out to fight us, they met the Emperor and his War Hounds.’‘You’re speaking of yourself,’ said Angron.‘Yourselves.’ Kharn nodded. ‘The War Hounds. XII Legion Astartes. Made in your image, as your warriors, primarch. He saw us fight in the Cephic hive-sprawls and named us for the white hounds the Yeshk warriors in the north used. He did us an honour with the name, primarch. We are proud of it, and we hope you will be too.’ Angron gave a growl, but he did not speak. The hand that had been a fist had opened again. Pages 292–293 of Tales of Heresy

When choosing the colour scheme I started with a few things; 1 - obviously the picture (above) that appears in the Forgeworld Horus Heresy Betrayal Book I of mid-blue with brazen highlights.2 - A description of them in one of the Horus Heresy novels: "Kharn's eyes had half-closed. He remembered how the War Hounds' blue and white armour glimmered in the worm-world's twilight..." as opposed to the white and blue armour of the World Eaters. 3 - But I also wanted to use the original World Eaters scheme of dark blue (right) as seen in the original renditions back in the day of Epic Space Marine and Rogue Trader - before the reimagining of today.So I mixed them all together - obviously blue was the predominant colour in all three descriptions, so I went with that and basically inverted the World Eaters colour scheme.

World Eaters as depicted in the Epic Space Marine game

Here's a good example of the blue; a Mordian Blue (now discontinued) base with a light Necron Abyss wash and later picking out the rivets with a less watered down wash of Necron Abyss and a touch of black. Probably a bit bluer than I'd hoped, but still pretty happy.

Here's a shot of the free-hand War Hounds Legion badge.Why do I pick such complicated ones?It took about an hour, but pretty happy with it all up.Haven't even started the flamer yet... and not sure about the white helmet

Here's a shot of the bronze. It's an older GW bronze with a black paint wash to really dull it down. The rivets need picking out a bit more.It's also a good shot of the insignia - which for free-hand is actually pretty good.Had to leave the collar off to keep the shape of the hound looking less like a bear!

So from here it's redoing the shading on the shoulder pads, picking out the details all over and fixing the backpack which so far has been shitty! Also the flamer for some reason is not speaking to me... we will see!!

Update Update #2

Ok - so I gave up on the Steampunk style backpack and just went with a fairly simple blue and white variety with red tubes - keeping the pallet of colours very small.

Here's a better look at the backpack. Shot's a bit dark, but it basically follows the scheme of the marine.I hate painting backpacks!

I very rarely base minis these days - but figured this might be a fun one to experiment on.I used the Citadel Basing Kit which I use rarely for anything, but once painted and then adding a few pebbles, it works!

Pretty happy with the flamer here. More colours than I thought, but the orange worked out really well and the red and green buttons contrast nicely. It'll do...

So the War Hounds Space Marine adventure is done.Next - a Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought in the same livery. Painting that hound again is going to be fun!

September 2013

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